BMA ordered to pay massive debt to BTSC for Green line extensions
The Supreme Administrative Court on Thursday upheld the verdict of the lower court ordering the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and its investment arm Krungthep Thanakom (KT) to pay the debt the city owes to Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC) of 11.754 billion baht.
BMA and KT owe the operator of BTS Skytrain for train operations and maintenance on the two extensions of the Green Line since April 2017.
In September 2021, BTSC had filed a lawsuit against the BMA, suing the administration for the 12 billion baht it is owed for operating the Green Line extension and another 20 billion baht it is owed for the train operating system.
In September 2022, the Central Administrative Court ordered the BMA and KT to pay the debt of 12.6 billion baht for operating the Green Line extensions within 180 days.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt had said the BMA would appeal against the ruling.
In the verdict issued on Thursday, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the amount of debt for the 2nd extension must be reduced as the train fare had not been officially set for the period April 2017 to May 2021.
The debts that BMA and KT owe to BTSC can therefore be divided as follows:
- Debt for operation and maintenance of 1st extension of the Green Line: 2.348 billion baht (2.199 billion baht before interest)
- Debt for operation and maintenance of 2nd extension of the Green Line: 9.406 billion baht (8.786 billion baht before interest).
